================================================
The African Wars Scenario Background Information
================================================
By Allard H.S. Hfelt

This document is best seen in the standard Notepad.
Excuse my grammatical faults, if any, but that's not the most
important of this.

This scenario, although fictional in some ways, is very historically
accurate in other ways. All city locations, units, even fortresses
have been placed with much care. All events regarding the Africans,
however, have been totally made up, :-) by me.
However, I have tried to make it feel to the player as though it
really could have happened. For example, I have tried to make all
African science, architecture and weaponry only reachable when they
have conquered parts of the world. This gives the feeling that they
slowly evolve.
But, don't play the Africans ! There are way too many -weak- units
to move.

To give the player a better understanding of the world in which this
scenario takes place, I will give some basic information.


Armies
======
Phalanx
-------
A phalanx was comparable to the modern tank. Mobile, well armed, good
on defence, good on attack, it was virtually invincible during the 5th
century BC, and most of the 4th century BC. It was composed of hoplites,
heavily armed fairly rich citizens. The strong aspect of the phalanx
was its formation. It was usually composed of four rows of hoplites :

|   |   |       direction is up, of course.
||  ||  ||	| = spear
||| ||| |||	O = hoplite
O|||O|||O|||
 O|| O|| O|| etc. etc.
  O|  O|  O|
   O   O   O

As you can see, an attacker will have to pass through some metres of
spears before being able to reach the enemy. And once he will have
reached him, he will oppose a heavily armed man trained for battle
all his life.

The most usual attack formation was just the frontal assault;

: :          : :     legend see below

but especially after the famous Theban Epaminondas' technical
reforms, there came a few changes, together with the introduction
of the previously underestimated cavalry and light infantry, the
Peltasts.

: :  :  : :  :    :    :   : :  ::        : = Peltasts
$$$                     :         = Hoplites
$$$                              $ = Cavalry
$$$                
                         

This is for example a formation frequently used by Alexander the
Great during his famous battles against the Persians.
This formation gives a strong accent on the left wing, and is
supposed to do most damage there.


Hoplites
--------
Hoplites were heavily armed citizens. Most of them, especially
in Sparta, had been trained for battle when a child.
All armour had to be financed privately; that's why only the
middle and upper classes could afford it. Being an hoplite was
considered an honour.
Because of this there were many kinds of armour, varying from
simple cloth armour to bronze carefully worked "panoplia".
The only standard part of an hoplite's equipment was the shield:
the "hoplon", from which the hoplite derives his name; a small,
usually 1 meter high, round shield made from wood and reinforced
by a layer of metal, making it very strong compared to the
standard Persian shields.
The hoplite usually had a long spear, reaching 3 or 4 metres,
to make the phalanx possible.


Cavalry
-------
Cavalry had always been underestimated in Greece. In archaic
Greece, however, there had been made use of chariots. Homer
mentions battle chariots on many occasions, although they
seem to have been used mostly as transportation means for
the rich to and from the battlefield.
There was virtually no cavalry in any army in Greece until
Macedonia's hegemony. When the northern, barbaric Macedonians
were the leading polis in Hellas, they started to introduce
a cavalry unit as standard part of any good army. This lead
to great results in Alexander's battles and was taken over by
all conquered nations. Also, the Elephant began to take a
important role in later armies, after Alexander defeated the
Indian king Porus an was so impressed with his army's elephants,
that he adopted some in his own army.

Light Infantry
--------------
Until the Persian Invasions (500-479 BC), there was little or
no use of light infantry in Greek armies. Only after the Persian
Wars, the Greeks began, impressed by the tactical purposes of
this light, mobile unit, to introduce them in their own armies.
Mostly composed of Skythian hired archers, they became more and
more important in Greece. Xenophon, for example, a great military
innovator, invented many important tasks.
Light infantry units were usually composed of Peltasts or Helots,
the oppressed inhabitants of cities conquered by Sparta.

The Persian army
----------------
The largeness of the Persian army, stretching from India to
Aithiopia to modern Turkey, made it possible for the Persian
army to have a huge variety of warriors in their armies.
There were Elephants, manned by Indians, Africans, armed
with wooden and iron weaponry and many more.
The Persians were able to raise huge armies. However, they
were mostly disorganised and not always loyal. The most
reliable parts of the army were the Persians themselves
and the Greek mercenaries and subjects.
The most famous of the Persian part of the army were the
"Immortals", 10000 men from high social positions and loyal
to the king. Every Immortal that had been killed in battle
was immediately replaced by a new one.
The second most important, or perhaps even more important
than the Persians were the Medians.

Ships
-----
The standard naval warship at this time was the Trireme,
actually called Triere in Greek. This ship was manned with
3 rows of rowers - free men, not slaves - on top of each
other at each side of the boat. Triremes and any other
warship around that time used their sails rarely, only
on long trips. Every ship had a big bronze ram in front
of the ship used to sink other ships or to break all
oars. There were many tactics to follow during a seabattle,
and this demanded a good commandment.
The Trireme was more or less the master of the sea until
more complex ships as Quinqueremes and even Polyremes took
over their place.
Although Greek Poleis (city-states) had one of the world's
greatest fleets, the Phoenicians were also a great power
on the sea, said to have sailed around Africa, and perhaps
even to America.

Other units
-----------
Camels were, although rarely used a very effective weapon
against mounted troops. The strong smell of these animals
would scare the horses away, leading to a huge chaos. This
was usually a great advantage of these animals, although
they had many weaknesses.
Chariots, although rarely used by Greeks, were still
popular warmachines. Especially in the Middle East the
relatively flat terrain favoured their use. The Persian
sometimes had attached sharp scythes to cut off the
legs of enemy horses.
Elephants were strong units in a battle. Used mainly in
Far Eastern or African armies, but later taken over in
the armies of Alexander's successors, they were manned by
a person with a long relation with the animal and a few
spearthrowers or archers. Later they were sometimes
reinforced by artificial armour to protect their feet,
a weak point in an Elephant, or to make their tusks
stronger with iron or bronze.


Leaders & Civilizations
=======================
Alexander the Great
-------------------
Son of Philip II, this man was probably the best military
genius ever. He managed to conquer the entire Persian Empire
in only a few years ! To make it more comprehensible for
modern understanding, that would be like, say, France
conquering the U.S. and all of Europe. Because the world
as it was known to the Greeks at that time was composed of
Greece, the Mediterranean and the Persian Empire.
Alexander had conquered the biggest part of the known world.
A detailed description of Alexander's life wouldn't fit
in a small text like this, but there are many many places
where you can find out more about him.

Epaminondas
-----------
A great Theban, and a great innovator in the military. Under
his brilliant lead Thebes was the leading Greek City for
a few years. After his death, this "hegemony" was taken
over by Macedonia.

Sabakos II
----------
A king invented by me, king of the Aithiopians. The
Aithiopians was a name used for all black tribes, but
especially those around the Nile south of Egypt. Their
capital was a city called Mero.
Sabakos I was the king of the Aithiopians who conquered
Egypt, long before the events in this scenario. After
50 years of reigning the people of the Nile, he left
again to the south. An Oracle had predicted him, when
he conquered Egypt, that the gods only allowed him the
rule of Egypt for 50 years. Then, he had to leave, so
he did.
In this scenario, a new king, Sabakos II, has risen
and conquered Libya and some parts of Saharan and sub-
Saharan territory. He has now raised a huge, although
primitive army and plans to attack Egypt, and the unknown
worlds behind it.
Sabakos II is a civilised man in this scenario, although
with some barbaric manners. He has spent a few years in
Greece learning from Aristotle, just as Alexander did.

Romans
------
The Romans were just starting to become a great power
around this time. They were involved in several wars
on the Italian Peninsula against among others the
Samnites, and later against Carthage, called Karchedoon
in this scenario (its Greek name).


More information about Greece is available on numerous
places on the Internet. I hope you will enjoy my scenario,

Allard Hfelt (allardhs2@geocities.com)
